The Binary Effect
by schlimazel
Summary: There are certain stars in the sky that are suspended in pairs. They spend their entire time revolving around one another...until their lights are extinguished forever. [SalazarxGodric]


**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership of the Potter-verse, only my little corner of Slythindor on the border of canon and fandom. The quote in italics is that of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, 1998. Characters rightfully belong to one J. K. Rowling, except for when I steal them. 3  
**Author's Notes:** I think I've read every Salazar/Godric story on at least a dozen tims, so I thought I'd make something new. Comments and critique shall always be welcome. Enjoy!

Yours,  
Len-chan

* * *

_"Love isn't a decision. It's a feeling. If we could decide who we loved, it would be much simpler, but much less magical."_

* * *

Nothing exists except for the silence. The quiet is deafening, and he does not think he can bear the sound of it much longer. However, for once, his nerves fail him, and the silence continues.

A soft, breathy sigh shatters the hush which enshrouds the sward. After a moment, the crickets find the opportune moment to attempt a few hesitant chirps, though the quiet still lurks ominously on the clearing's edge.

With his hands tangled in long, wet blades of grass, he moors himself to the ground for fear of drifting off into the abyss below-- or was it above? No, not an abyss. The darkness was scattered with millions of tiny, twinkling specks of white light, like chicken feed. Light...piercing the darkness, fighting it back until day, in the ongoing battle between good and evil. He shuts his eyes, frowning slightly. What were once as different as life and death now mingled together; he could never see the barrier between what was right and what was wrong anymore.

The silence proceeds as he thinks, recalling a memory of days long ago, of days that give him comfort in the darkest of times. He spends most of his time reminiscing; it is always dark.

"I was always told that the stars are heroes who have died and gone to heaven," he muses aloud, his eyes still shut. "They climb into the sky to protect us from the shadows out there." His voice sounds like playful summer afternoons and is coloured with a naivety not unlike that of a child, who has yet to discover the ways of the world. His voice is the voice of a dreamer and an adventurer, though you would never guess it from his eyes.

From only a short ways away, he hears a familiar scoff. "That's the most ridiculous thing anyon's ever said to me."

He is all too used to such treatment to feel put down by his companion's remark, but lifts his eyelids and rolls onto his side to get a change of view nonetheless. A young man lays in the grass closer than he expected, with his pale hands open at his sides in a gesture of acceptance. Long, dark tresses pool around a head in the grass, framing an aristocratically chiselled face in shadow.

The traces of a smile curve his lips as he studies his friend's features. "Then what do you suggest, Salazar? I do value your opinion so."

The man called Salazar exhales sharply in what only his watcher could recognize as genuine amusement, for he has picked up on the note of sarcasm. Salazar loves to hear what he knows the speaker does not mean, loves sarcasm and wit and severity and lies. His companion never could understand him.

"The stars are massive spheres of gas and fire, naturally," Salazar responds languidly, ever the man of science and reason. His voice is soft and drawling, each pitch taking its own serpentine twists and curves. "There's no such thing as darkness out there... Only emptiness. Someone has filled your head with fanciful children's tales."

The recipient of Salazar's chiding feels his face turn warm with the blush, and is glad it is too dark for the other to see his reddened cheeks. Still, he cannot help but feel that Salazar has sensed it despite his mask of shadow and shade. Whether he notices or not, Salazar does not say, and they carry on with their stargazing in uneasy quiet.

"There are certain stars in the sky," says Salazar suddenly, piercing the soundlessness with the subtlety of a dragon's bite and drawing his companion's attention at once, "that are suspended in pairs. They spend their entire time revolving around one another...until their lights are extinguished forever."

How like Salazar, to explain just another fact. The younger man doesn't know why his friend bothers, when he has nothing to prove. Salazar has always been the learned one, while he carries by on mere instinct.

But Salazar, apparently, is yet to finish. "My mother liked to tell me that for every two people who were truly, intimately in love with one another, there is a pair of stars that shine for each other, exist entirely for the other."

The other gazes confusedly at him for a moment, but Salazar showed no signs of embarrassment. On the contrary, he has closed his eyes and would seem to have found the opportune moment for falling asleep-- or the least.

"Salazar...do you suppose there're a couple of stars up there for us?"

This time when Salazar opens an eye to investigate, a vestige of alarm registers in its depths, for the other man is suddenly right beside him, his face the very reflection of expectation. Everything in Salazar's countenance chooses to smirk, and, as always, his counterpart acknowledges the way the corner of his mouth tilts crookedly upward and his eyelids hang low to indicate that something delightful shall ensue.

Sure enough, Salazar is upon him in moments, and his willing victim wonders how it is even possible to make one move so fast. He settles for it having something to do with being irrevocably in love and makes himself comfortable in his bed of grass, while Salazar begins the practice of his fierce, extravagant kisses.

"Godric."

Eventually, they are both on their backs at the centre of the sward, somewhat flushed but thoroughly satisfied. They lie side by side, hand in hand, content to ignore and be ignored by whatever lurked beyond the line of trees and do their stargazing.

Salazar's fingers trace across Godric's palm, memorizing its contours as he has everything else about his companion. "I know there is a pair of stars up there for us, because every time I look into the sky, I search for them. Nobody is more in love than us."

"So we _are_ in love?" Godric asks vaguely, feeling all his senses flood into the hand his lover holds. "And you will always be by my side, no matter what happens, not with the school, or- or the others, or what anybody--"

"I swear I will," interrupts Salazar. It is the first time Godric has ever seen the man look earnest, and he does not hesitate to fall for the gaze. Pleased with the man's response, he rests his wild, straw-coloured locks upon his shoulder as Salazar strokes his head.

"Even if...it's only in the skies," the dark-haired man whispers, once he is certain Godric is not in a fit state of consciousness to understand his words. Sure enough, Godric only sighs peacefully in his sleep, holding Salazar closer. Salazar's countenance is unreadable as he tangles his hand deeper into his lover's hair, slanting just enough to view the stars. He would shine...but only for his Godric.


End file.
